On the 16th of November parents, invited guests, staff and students assembled at the Premiere Academy school stadium to witness the long-awaited inter-house sports competition after the recently concluded heats event that selected the best athletes for each house to compete at the grand finale.
With the large crowd in attendance, filled with excitement, the event started with an opening address by the school Principal, Mr Rowland Eno.
Topaz House emerged winners of the 2019 edition of the annual Premiere Academy Inter-house sports competition
, which was concluded at the sports complex in Lugbe, Abuja, after acquiring a total of 41 medals comprising eighteen gold, fifteen silver and eight bronze medals. Defending champions, Emerald House, came second with seventeen gold, thirteen silver and eighteen bronze medals, while Ruby House came third with eleven gold, eleven sliver and fifteen bronze medals.
In the athletics events that were decided on the final day of the competition, an SS3 student, Fortune Okon Bassey of Topaz House came first with a time of 10.65 seconds, claiming the 100 metres senior boys’ event, while Isabella Okoghie, also of Topaz House in SS1, ran a time of 12.63 seconds to win the 100 metres senior girls’ title.
Loyola Jesuit College, emerged winners in both the boys’ and girls’ categories of the invited schools events in the 4 by 100 metres relay race. Other schools in attendance were Lead British International School, Redeemer’s Private School, Salem Academy, Capital Science, African International College, with their students competing in other categories.
Special guest of honour, five times Olympian and Special Assistant (Sports) to the Minister of Youth, Sports and Development, Mary Onyali, made some remarks on the need to discover talent at a tender age and produce world beaters in the nearest future. She said “My advice to these kids is, whatever you do in life, whether it’s sports, even if you graduate from here and move into any aspect of your life, and completely move away from sporting activities remember that sports is the foundation of all your life’s upbringing.”
The school Principal, Rowland Eno, gave his remarks after witnessing the race and the competition between the students for medals. He mentioned “…it’s getting the balance right between the academic side of things and the sporting side. A healthy mind and healthy body balance is very important. If we can get our parents to support our students to know that engaging in sports is not a waste of time, it’s not a waste of energy or talent”
The main organizer and planner of the event, Mr. Kayode Onitilo, popularly known as ‘Coach K’ gave his remarks to summarize the inter-house sports event. He said “…every year we upgrade, this yearwe made sure we collaborated with our parents, we informed them deeply in all the preparations and everything and our students too, and you can see the huge success that has been recorded so far.
With the success of the eleventh edition of the inter-house sports competition, efforts, the Management say, are in place to introduce more games to the event next year.